Chapter 64: Accidentally Smashing the Esports Dreams of Five Young Men

"PE wasn't wrong—NXG is as strong as a ghost."

Behind the scenes, after finishing the preseason opening ceremony, IG, who had come to scout their opponents, didn't rush back to their small team hotel.

But by now, everyone’s faces bore an air of unease.

Last-hitting—NXG’s five players, except the support, all hovered around the same smile-level mastery.

Vision control was flawless, far surpassing IG by an incalculable margin.

And the synergy between champions, the teamfight coordination…

The increasingly bald XIAOXIAO accidentally yanked another handful of his hair. "NXG isn’t just strong because of JM—every one of the other five is top-tier."

"BlockDragon, are you seriously stating the obvious? The stats are right in front of you."

"Thank goodness we didn’t get drawn against NXG in the preseason—had we met early, we’d have been drowned."

After applying the strategy used against WE’s JM to their own team, the results were disappointing—Zi and Yin’s mid-jungler duo could barely gain minor advantages over Ruofeng and Mingkai, let alone replicate their ability to dismantle a hundred games with just one flawless performance.

From this perspective, JM’s individual skill is truly beyond comprehension.

Of course, IG’s inability to handle WE’s mid-jungler had its reasons.

Since S2, both teams have known each other too well.

WE’s way to win was to mindlessly suppress PDD’s farm, forcing Caomei into extreme pressure—and vice versa: Yin and Zi would overwhelm Ruofeng, then coordinate mid-jungle to 4-2 gank bot lane, preventing Weixiao from developing.

But in jungle experience, Yin was nowhere near Mingkai.

How to protect bot lane was practically etched into his bones.

Instead, Mingkai, that old fox, would occasionally, after setting up Kid on bot, slip in a couple of wild boar traps for himself.

"We lost early—BLQG’s ultimate flow does zero damage. No point playing."

"If we face NXG in the match, how do you think we can win?" PDD asked.

In IG’s team, Kid and Zi were still kids, and Yin rarely spoke, so PDD’s question was implicitly directed at the support, XIAOXIAO.

XIAOXIAO knew PDD meant the main tournament—IG, ranked third in the city domination tournament, was a preseason seed and thus automatically avoided the top teams from server domination and media selection; NXG was in Group A, while IG was placed in Group C.

"It’s hard to say now—this NXG crew plays training matches and official matches like two completely different teams. In training, they’re reckless; in official matches, they’re as steady as ancient tortoises. Without facing them on the official stage, there’s no real reference."

"Forget it. Next round, we’ll probably face LGD anyway—let’s just aim for two straight wins and qualify directly."

"Even if we do meet them, we’re not scared—just crush them."

"Old Pu, we’re counting on you in the next match—we’ve already laid down on bot."

"Get lost. If you empty your ultimate again tomorrow, I’ll report you to the league as a fraud."

…

On the game field, the match reached the 17th minute.

The score was 16:2.

The economic gap exceeded ten thousand gold; all outer turrets on all lanes had fallen.

The five players on the purple side had become “old acquaintances,” with their captain, NovaSlash, the worst off.

Now, this team leader, who just last night had been brimming with confidence before the draw, had glazed eyes and muttered to himself.

"It’s okay—we still have a chance."

"It’s just a ten-thousand-gold deficit. We have a teamfight composition—once the Prince and Kaisan land their ultimates, we can turn it around."

"Captain…"

The jungler, equally drenched in sweat, couldn’t bear to watch his teammate’s denial of reality and tugged at his sleeve.

A chance?

What chance?

Was it the 0-6 Kaisan? Or the Twisted Fate who cast his ultimate twice—both times landing and immediately dying?

Or the Ashe who still hadn’t completed her second item?

All outer turrets were gone; they had almost no terrain to rely on, and the jungle was pitch black—this so-called “chance” was nothing but self-deception.

Most crucially, NXG didn’t even give them a chance to fight a teamfight—they were constantly running across the map, never stopping. Anyone watching would think blue side had five Kaisans.

"The gap is too big…"

"No one can go without a single mistake."

"Heh… I think after this match, I’ll just go back to grinding solo queue. Professional esports? Nah." The BLQG top laner, who’d watched the entire match like a black-and-white TV and had his Dao shattered at the 19th minute, now seriously considered retiring on the spot.

Jiang Ming never imagined that his instruction to his players to play beautifully would indirectly shatter a group of young people’s esports dreams right before their eyes.

But the cruelty of esports is precisely this: either possess extraordinary talent—like the Li mid laner next door—and smash through every barrier in your path, or pack your bags early and find another path.

In truth, the match could have ended long ago.

But since today was the first live broadcast of the LPL preseason, and with a double-digit kill difference already, giving them a 20-forfeit would look terrible.

Of course, it wasn’t looking good now either.

Opening the LPL official livestream on his phone, he saw a flood of comments like “bot matches.”

"Ahem, the economic gap between both sides has now reached an absurd level!"

"Fourteen thousand gold—that’s equivalent to each player on the left having an extra 3,000-gold core item."

"There’s nothing we can do—look at the left side’s ADC—he’s already got a Infinity Edge. His damage dwarfs Ashe’s. Even if Weilusi just auto-attacks without using skills, Ashe can’t even last-hit him."

The Big Mouth himself didn’t realize he’d accidentally quoted his own legendary line years ahead of schedule.

Joker was silently stunned.

His first exposure to NXG was through JM’s YY stream, where he climbed to #1 in the national server. At first, like many players, he thought: even if this streamer was strong, without understanding the core of professional play, blindly entering the scene would never make a splash.

But now, it seemed he’d been wildly wrong.

This NXG team had swept through the qualifiers all the way to the LPL preseason, and their performance since entering the professional scene was even more astonishing than before.

"It seems the rumored NXG devil training schedule really exists. I wonder if we could adapt it for WE."

As the saying goes, even if the deal falls through, goodwill remains. Joker knew well that his solid position in the commentary circle owed much to his former role as WE’s coach. He often subtly directed viewers toward WE during broadcasts. Now, seeing NXG’s state, he naturally began considering how to help his old team.